Florida fuel stations are rapidly running out of gasoline as residents rush to fill up in preparation for Hurricane Dorian.

Residents who are hunkering down or evacuating are rushing to get fuel in areas like West Palm Beach, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, Fort Myers and Naples.

Long lines are being reported in many areas, following a pattern similar to when Hurricane Irma caused outages throughout the state two years ago.

"This whole situation is more dire than I would’ve expected in terms of outages and people on the move and waiting for gas," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, an app that helps people find and save on fuel. "People are taking it seriously."

The outages are the worst in West Palm Beach, where 50% of stations didn't have fuel as of 9 a.m. Friday, according to GasBuddy.

In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, 49.3% of stations were out, while 45.7% were out in Ford Myers-Naples.

In Gainesville, 45.7% were out, while 31.3% were out in Orlando-Daytona Beach and 20.1% were out in Tampa-St. Petersburg.

The outages reflect a significant spike from 6:30 p.m. Thursday, when the worst market for outages was West Palm Beach at 28.5%.

“We, in the emergency declaration, waived service and truck rates for fuel trucks so we can increase capacity for fuel being brought in. We're also going to be starting today implementing Florida Highway Patrol escorts for fuel trucks so we can increase fueling in critical parts of the state," DeSantis said, according to CNN.

Long lines have also been reported across the state, especially in Brevard County.

Miami-Dade officials urged residents to fill up their gas tanks in case they needed to evacuate. They also urged people to fill gas cans for their generators and gas-powered tools.

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If a major storm threatens South Florida, it could take up to 99 hours to get everyone out, studies show.

That’s more than four days for perhaps millions of evacuees from Miami-Dade and Broward counties to go through Palm Beach County and northward. But authorities typically don’t know a storm’s power or direction that far in advance.

These Hurricanes/Cyclones are just like bowling. Usually you have to wait for the curve to take effect, but sometimes you get a strike with a direct hit. Well, Katrina was just like this, just blew up and very direct hit.

I can not for some reason sympathize with people that live in a hurricane zone and who do not have preps on hand to button up the house and flee. It is rather like people who live in a cold climate and don't have blankets in case the power goes out and they have to do without a working furnace for a few days in mid winter.

I should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, design a building, write, balance accounts, build a wall, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, pitch manure, program a computer, cook, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

The 'cone of uncertainty' (love that term) still certainly includes Florida.

And as I understand it, it could still have a devastating effect on coastal areas if it stays just off shore and goes north piling wind surge and pounding rain into towns and cities all the way up the Eastern Sea Board into North Carolina, and possibly beyond...

The 'cone of uncertainty' (love that term) still certainly includes Florida.

And as I understand it, it could still have a devastating effect on coastal areas if it stays just off shore and goes north piling wind surge and pounding rain into towns and cities all the way up the Eastern Sea Board into North Carolina, and possibly beyond...

Yeah, it's not as if a strong storm can't do any damage, including significant damage, even if it doesn't directly "hit" a landmass it passes.

Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.

Tanada wrote:I can not for some reason sympathize with people that live in a hurricane zone and who do not have preps on hand to button up the house and flee. It is rather like people who live in a cold climate and don't have blankets in case the power goes out and they have to do without a working furnace for a few days in mid winter.

Agree 100%.

And I share the same philosophy re financial preparedness, especially everyone with reasonable education and/or means.

It just kills me when I see stories about people in their mid 50's and even early 60's who lose a 6 figure job, and then claim to be in SERIOUS financial trouble within a month or two.

Of course, in the modern era, to say such things is politically incorrect, etc.

I'm starting to think that personal responsibility should be a mandatory part of public schooling, since it is apparently so seldomly taught in the home. It could be a core teaching, with rudimentary skills re finances, basic home repairs, etc. that would go along with it. It could literally and appropriately be called something like "basic life skills".

Not that anything so sensible would ever become widespread.

Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.

We were down through the Abacos a couple of years ago, then through the Virgins after the big hurricanes. The Virgins are far more robust and resilient than the Abacos which are just small sandy islands. They have a funny rock core with sand over it.

I can’t imagine there will be much left. Marsh Harbor, the biggest town there, sits back from the open ocean and will be somewhat protected from the worst of the waves. The places out on the ocean side cays, well I hope they survive.

They do have a new municipal building on a bit of higher ground. It’s quite big and can probably House a couple of thousand on a temporary basis.

Marsh Harbor is about 6,000 people I believe. 1 super market in town. Most of the population is pretty darn poor. Not a lot of resources here and it is low lying.

The outer cays, which will take the brunt of the hurricane, is where the money is. But even there it’s only single family homes. So I imagine a lot of folks will have evacuated TO Marsh Harbor. Places like Elbow Cay and Green Turtle will likely have been pretty well scrubbed clean, if the wind reports hold true.

Can’t see a lot of folks getting out of the Abacos by the limited plane service they have and I don’t recall any significant ferry service either.

If you were there on a boat, a sail boat, you should have run SW 3 days ago.

--------------------At 800 AM EDT (1200 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Dorian was located byNOAA Doppler radar near latitude 26.7 North, longitude 78.2 West.Dorian is moving toward the west near 1 mph (2 km/h). A slowwestward to west-northwestward motion is forecast during the nextday or so, followed by a gradual turn toward the northwest andnorth. On this track, the core of extremely dangerous HurricaneDorian will continue to pound Grand Bahama Island through much oftoday and tonight. The hurricane will move dangerously close to theFlorida east coast tonight through Wednesday evening.

Maximum sustained winds are near 165 mph (270 km/h) with highergusts. Dorian is a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-SimpsonHurricane Wind Scale. Although gradual weakening is forecast,Dorian is expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the nextcouple of days.